Dwarf puffer questions...

[new2betas]

Okay...I have had it with this snail issue! And...for goodness sake they are now in my new 10g that I am cycling for red cherry shrimp! I think what happed is I took out the cave from my established 10g (where the snails came from) and had just put it in the water of the new 10g when I remember "aggghh snails" and yanked it back out again. Obviously, it wasn't soon enough. I smushed two of them in the cycling tank this afternoon....uurgghh. And, I daily smush them in my established tank. I was reading on here (and other places) that they can be kept safely with red cherry shrimp. Does anyone have experience with this? I would even consider taking my betta out of his tank for a while and putting in a dwarf puffer if he would get rid of my snail problem and then move him back to the red cherry shrimp tank when he was finished there.
Any ideas?

 

[Innovator]

Any shrimp would be of high interest to a puffer of any kind. You can try it, but don't be surprised if snails isn't all that is on its menu.

 

[JohnPaul]

What kind of snails, and what kind of substrate? If you have a sand substrate, then having MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails) is actually a good thing. If you have a gravel substrate, then it isn't necessary. Pond snails are a nuisance, and will eat your live plants if you put live plants in the tank. No snails will harm the shirmp though, not even the babies.

At this point since you are still cycling an empty tank, the easiest way to get rid of snails is to blanche (quickly boil or microwave) some lettuce, put a piece in the bottom of the tank and turn out the lights, then about a half hour or hour later come back in and quickly turn on the lights and a bunch of the snails will be on the lettuce. Do that for a few nights in a row and you should get most of the snails.

It is true that a dwarf puffer, or almost any kind of loach, will quickly clean out a tank of snails. But you would not want to keep anything like that in a tank with your shrimp.

 

[new2betas]

What kind of snails, and what kind of substrate? If you have a sand substrate, then having MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails) is actually a good thing. If you have a gravel substrate, then it isn't necessary. Pond snails are a nuisance, and will eat your live plants if you put live plants in the tank. No snails will harm the shirmp though, not even the babies.

At this point since you are still cycling an empty tank, the easiest way to get rid of snails is to blanche (quickly boil or microwave) some lettuce, put a piece in the bottom of the tank and turn out the lights, then about a half hour or hour later come back in and quickly turn on the lights and a bunch of the snails will be on the lettuce. Do that for a few nights in a row and you should get most of the snails.

It is true that a dwarf puffer, or almost any kind of loach, will quickly clean out a tank of snails. But you would not want to keep anything like that in a tank with your shrimp.

Thanks JohnPaul and Innovator! It is pond snails and they are driving me nuts. I do not come close to overfeeding my tank either, so I don't know what to do. I tried the lettuce thing and did not get many at all. My most effective way so far have been just crushing them, but am getting tired of that, as it is time consuming. I think my betta and cories probably eat them once I have crushed them, but not until then. I guess I will just keep smooshing away. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[JohnPaul]

If you simply want to remove all the snails in that tank with your other fish, I would suggest getting one loach. Which one might depend upon what your local fish store has in stock. When I got tired of all the pond snails in my 29 gal heavily planted community tank, I picked up one Yo-Yo Loach, and I would say within about two weeks there was not a single snail left alive anywhere in that tank. (I probably had over 100 snails in there before I put in the loach). They are voracious in their appetite for snails, and unlike puffers, they are perfectly fine citizens in a general community tank. Plus, unlike puffers (which usually require live food), once the loach finishes off all your snails he will be perfectly happy eating just about anything else you put in the tank, from flake food to sinking tablets, frozens stuff, whatever.

Some loaches get pretty big, so given the (relatively small) size of your tank, that would be the only real worry. If you have a store in the area that has Yo-Yo Loaches, I would suggest you pick up one of those and your snail issues will be a thing of the past.

 

[new2betas]

If you simply want to remove all the snails in that tank with your other fish, I would suggest getting one loach. Which one might depend upon what your local fish store has in stock. When I got tired of all the pond snails in my 29 gal heavily planted community tank, I picked up one Yo-Yo Loach, and I would say within about two weeks there was not a single snail left alive anywhere in that tank. (I probably had over 100 snails in there before I put in the loach). They are voracious in their appetite for snails, and unlike puffers, they are perfectly fine citizens in a general community tank. Plus, unlike puffers (which usually require live food), once the loach finishes off all your snails he will be perfectly happy eating just about anything else you put in the tank, from flake food to sinking tablets, frozens stuff, whatever.

Some loaches get pretty big, so given the (relatively small) size of your tank, that would be the only real worry. If you have a store in the area that has Yo-Yo Loaches, I would suggest you pick up one of those and your snail issues will be a thing of the past.

I will try to see if the lfs has them to lend out. I guess there are no miniature versions of them, huh? If there were small ones and could be kept with shrimp, then I would keep him.

 

[JohnPaul]

I will try to see if the lfs has them to lend out. I guess there are no miniature versions of them, huh? If there were small ones and could be kept with shrimp, then I would keep him.

A loach of any size would make quick work of any baby shrimp, and would possibly find & eat even full-sized adults during molting.

I am not aware of there being any truly "miniature" loaches that would be happy in a 10 gal as adults.

 

[new2betas]

oh well...I guess I will keep picking/smooshing the little boogers then.